Representative Denies Pike Plot

NO WRITER ATTRIBUTED
February 23, 1963

City Councillor Daniel J. Hayes' charges of a Cambridge plot against the Mass. Turnpike Extension into Boston were countered yesterday by State Representatives Mary B. Newman and Levin Campbell, both of Cambridge.

Hayes' claims that the Extension plan of Turnpike Authority Chairman William F. Callahan would benefit rather than injure Cambridge were termed "misinformed" by Mrs. Newman. According to Mrs. Newman the Extension proposal, which would involve filling in eight acres of the Charles River, would interfere with recreation, navigation and flood control.

The major controversy between the politically powerful Turnpike Authority and various local factions centers on Magazine Beach, a riverfront recreational area near MIT. Hayes claimed that there would be no infringement on the beach.

However, Mrs. Newman and Campbell pointed out in a letter to Hayes that the latest plans of the Turnpike Authority shown a the MDC-Turnpike hearing last week, "indicate a taking of 2.7 acres at Magazine Beach." The beach area would be submerged to compensate for part of the eight acre Extension fill-in.

The letter from Campbell and Mrs. Newman called Hayes' statements "so far from the facts as we understand them that we can hardly believe we were attending the same hearing."

According to Hayes, Callahan would improve Cambridge with new riverfront recreational facilities including a skating rink. Mrs. Newman told the CRIMSON that no such plans exist on paper and she added, "I have no confidence that they will."